This is a gigantic comprehensive review, not a reiteration of the whole story of Assassin's Creed 3 (like some people seem to think a review is), but it can also function a control manual. This game is good. It's impressive. It stands out from its predecessors for many reasons, not all of them good. Must I start out with the important stuff first, this game deserves an 8 at best. Why at best? Because this game, unlike my review, is heavily flawed. I'll give you the score of what I honestly think this game deserves up front, a flat 7, but let us move on.

The biggest thing new to the game is the naval portion so we'll start here.

Naval exploration and war

"It is fantastic and nearly flawless. It's a real joy to play in my opinion but there are definitely some issues."- Myself

In AC3 you can improve your boat by buying guns for it (power), reinforcing it (health), or even by equipping a battering ram to the front of it. This is a welcomed touch. The upgrades you can provide your ship are of as wide a variety as would make sense in reality and thus limited to only 8 possible purchasable items from the "war cache", a store for boat upgrades. These upgrades are not necessary to purchase. By this I mean that it is possible to pass all missions in the game without them, as I have done. However, I do enjoy disrupting the balance of things. If you play the game thoroughly enough, you can reap rewards for doing so; This is just typical game-maker logic, "reward your players for playing". Your boat does not seem to have a ton of health to begin with. I think the game portrays naval warfare as it may actually feel. You go out to sea feeling like 'today I may not actually come back home in one piece'. I think that for a game to accomplish making a player feel a certain level of excitement just because he or she is in a boat, is a tremendous feat. And while you may have modest health, you will definitely always feel very powerful within 'The Aquila', the name of your warship. 'Aquila' is Latin for "eagle".

Now the 'left stick' steers the Aquila, go figure. Conner has very realistic seafaring animations, at times it even looks as if he's struggling to steer. This is impressive to me regardless of whether or not you, the player, are actually struggling at all. The weather effects show up both while you explore on land, but they honestly shine here, while you're at sea'. The handling on The Aquila is honestly quite resistant but this can be improved via the steering upgrade. There also exists a very hefty explanation of why The Aquila sucks at turning if you bother to check in on your animus database after unlocking her (the ship).

'A' and 'B' serve as your "gears," as if you were shifting a car 'A' raises the sails and speeds you up, while 'B' lowers them. There are 3 speeds: Full-sail, Half-sail, and Full-stop. Not much to complain about here. I know little about sailing a real ship to begin with, so I found the details informative. You also even get to see your crew of hardened misfits mess with the sails, and they too are impressive as they react to the weather, and may even die on deck. One thing I was greatly thankful for was 'on-the-fly' gear switching. By 'on-the-fly' I mean if you want to go faster, all you have to do is tap 'A' and your speed will increase to the next gear, no delay.

RT will function as your broadside cannon burst. Which direction you wish to fire, be it starboard(right) or port side(left), is easily directable by moving the 'right stick' since holding RT limits you to an 180 degree view. After firing broadside you must endure a 'cooldown' before you then again may fire, it makes sense ( since your crew would need time to reload the cannons after all). Now, this is the biggest flaw of naval warfare, however logical it may seem. You have a reload time, but, enemy warships do not. We'll come back to this point later. Shot alternates, such as the chainshot, can be earned through naval mission gameplay as well as purchased from the 'war cache' and need not be manually equipped. This takes a lot of possible frustration out of the game.

Let's continue with functions, you also have an LT function which is a basic swivel cannon shot. The swivel shot also has a reload time, much quicker than that of the broadside cannonry. An upgrade for the swivel shot is also purchasable from war cache.

The 'right stick' directs your view of the battlefield, as well as your cannon fire. The swivel cannons can be aimed in any direction of a 360 degree viewing range, however broadside shots (which limits you view to only 180 degrees) may only be fired at your 0 or 180...go figure...with broadside cannons you can only shoot broadside...who woulda thought? To fire at you zero, simply direct your camera far enough to the left. Oh, you want to shoot right? Well it's as simple as vice versa...if I lost you, you've got some studying to do.

You can alternate between firing broadside and firing swivel on volition of course, however, you cannot shoot one while pressed upon the trigger of the other, thus you cannot fire both simultaneously. Prior to shooting (meaning: you're still holding a trigger down), the issue can be cancelled with the 'Y' button and you can release the trigger. I'm really glad the game creators thought this through, however cancelling shooting is not explained during gameplay.

Now the specifics of combat on sea. You can dismiss enemy firing damage by directing your crew to hit the deck by the 'X' button. As I have mentioned above, your cannons have reload times. A ducking issue encompasses all of 5 entire seconds, no cutting your duck short. While your crew is ducking you also may not issue firing commands, this makes relative sense but this simple aspect can get extremely frustrating.

Now this is where I discuss specific elements and issues of Naval combat.If you fire broadside at a ship neck and neck with you, you will not hit it. This makes no fucking sense at all whatsoever. The cannons are placed at ship body level from the sea so that they can hit ships that pass before them. So then why the hell can you not shoot an enemy ship that is literally grinding oak with you? I have no idea. It is a really stupid issue that I was extremely surprised by, and which I have become extremely enamored with screaming about.The next issue is caused by low health. Certain enemy ships will attempt to hunt you and remain along your broadside for as long as possible.

Now this is frustrating because: while you have low health your ship is likely to get wrecked with another single volley. Now since the enemy does not have to reload as you do, they will attempt to pelt you with volley after volley of cannon fire. To stay alive you have to continuously issue the 'hit the deck' command.

While you issue the hit the deck command you cannot fire back, you cannot steer your ship, and you cannot change ship speed. As soon as the duck command ends, a new volley will approach you, and you will once again have to issue a duck command. If you can't steer or outrun your opponent because you're constantly being forced to evade his shots, what choices do you have?

Let's see...you can:

A: 'not issue a duck command, change speeds, and attempt to avoid the next shot manually.

Answer: this will likely get you killed but it can work. You opponent must be misaligned with you, either a notch ahead of you so you can dodge by slowing down, or a notch behind you so you can dodge by speeding up.

B: 'fire back hastily and hope I kill it before it kills me.'

Answer: This will get you killed. You may or may not end up destroying your opponent but the end of story will always be the same, you will be sunk and have to start the mission all over. This is not a viable option.

Answer 2: "Well what if I shoot between ducking?" The only shot quick enough to allow you to continue avoiding enemy fire is the swivel shot and even this is risky because you will probably still end up getting hit/dying/restarting. But the prime issue with this method is: Larger enemy ships do not get damaged by the smaller swivel shot. Ducking continuously and attempting to fire between intervals is simply not a plausible method of success.

C: 'continue ducking.'

Answer 1: "Well, how about I continue issuing the duck command and hope he leaves me alone?" With this mentality, you're fucked, I've been there. The enemy will continue to pester you until you die.

Answer 2: "Well, how about I duck and steer between intervals?" Since you can only turn in between your intervals of ducking, which will never be more than two seconds long, you will eventually not throw the enemy off course ever. You will remain doomed in your current situation to travel the seas as you are, being relentlessly shot at, and guess what, there's no boundary to the sea map, it's infinite. It just keeps loading.

D: 'say fuck it and die.'

Answer: Although I like your point, with an attitude like this, you'll never complete the game. Have fun in your loading screen.

We'll move on to the basics, they honestly have not changed all that much since the first game.

Manual, and critiquing the basics

'A': Fast walk (while not stationary) and force your way through the crowd, parkour, rise,

Fast walking is the same as it always has been, except now 'A' does not need to be held for freerunning.
While freerunning, holding 'A' tells Conner to smoothly scale small objects in parkour fashion.
While freerunning within trees, holding 'A' tells Conner to rise to higher branches, or clime notched trees (by default he moves forward).
'A,' in general, is now a climb button. Instead of freerunning into a wall to climb it, you may press the 'A' to have Conner reach toward the first gripable object.

'B': Interact or Pick pocket

The button to leave a menu should never be the same as the button to open it. This is therefore utterly retarded, moo. Pick pocketing has also been raped. Why is it necessary to require your player to hold down a button for 30 seconds to pickpocket their target when their reward will never be more than spare change. Pick pocketing can now be performed on the same target three times. Pick pocketing has always been the least necessary function of the game but the creators have successfully found a way to make it even more mundane.

'X': Assassinate

Conner wields a knife and a hidden blade, I will refer to this as his 'set'. I was not necessarily glad that the knife did not have to be earned, however I was pleased that double assassinating is made available immediately from the beginning of the Conner's story. You may now hold 'X' and walk into your enemies and Conner will actively kill targets. This is also available while holding 'A' to fast walk and while freerunning with 'RT'. Although this is an incredibly small change, it adds a dramatic amount of versatility to gameplay and is well appreciated. Assassinating a single target with your 'set' is now incredibly quick. With the combined efforts of the last two improvements, you can now easily eradicate groups of enemies while remaining in low profile, without getting caught. Assassinations can be made with all weapons, as in all previous installments of Assassin's Creed, however, assassinating with your fists is now a 'silent' maneuver. The assassination animations are typical, they do not look anymore impressive than they had in the past.

'Y': Use tool

Conner can wield money, rope darts, poison darts, smoke pellets, guns, bait, snares, and a bow as tools. Not every tool has a combat utility so it is necessary to be aware of what you have equipped in the new dedicated 'tool slot'. Hunting tools are fully discussed lower, within the hunting section. Throwing money is the same as it was introduced in Assassin's Creed 2. Smoke pellets are the same as they were introduced in Brotherhood and may still be thrown at targets. The flintlock pistols, however, are entirely different when compared to the wrist gun introduced in AC 2, as well as the poison darts. With the introduction of the bow, all shooting tools are now fired automatically at their target, with little aim-time my I add, after the 'Y' button is pressed. You no longer need to wait for a line to form between you and your target. You may not aim manually which is extremely unfortunate and all shooting tools can only be activate when a target is sighted (in a white glow, as signified by the new animus program). You may achieve a maximum of two kills with one arrow- it is nice that they added this in but it is extremely difficult to achieve (remember that the aiming system is automated). The bow is a nice addition to the game but I have major one complaint aside from automated aiming. After firing an arrow, if it misses its mark, you will remain undetected. However, if you hit your intentional target, or any other bystander, if a guard notices it you will enter open conflict. This is logical in reality, but in a video game it is incredibly stupid. Why ever shoot an arrow, if it is just as likely to get you detected as firing a bullet? There are various pistols in the game, two of which can kill three enemies at once. You may also upgrade your holster so you can wield two pistols, it's pretty cool. The greatest drawback to the pistols is their reload time. How ever realistic this detail of the game may be, it is frustrating to wait five minutes to fire your pistols ever again. I guess 'shooting arrows' does have its advantages, you draw,string, then release in a matter of seconds. Poison darts are also just as quick as the bow and are exactly the same 'throwing knives' from prior ACs. They are completely 'silent' and are the most over powered tool of the game, but you can only carry 5 when full upgraded. Finally i the rope dart. It has nice animations and is perfectly effective during combat. When used to 'hang' an enemy, or when used to 'counter kill' they are consumed. When used to pull enemies toward you, or to choke enemies from above, they are not consumed. Choking enemies is low profile, while hanging enemies is high profile. Take this for example: A caravan is moving with 8 men. I rope dart the guy who is the furthest behind. If I choke him, nobody notices, whereas if I were to have hung him instead I would have alerted the caravan. I think this differentiation is pretty stupid but it honestly is no big deal.

'LT': Analyze

This is stupid. It is basically an unnecessary button. Essentially it is a zoom button, so I have no idea why it's called "analyze". The game gives you a quick demonstration toward the beginning it but beyond that, in no sufficient way does it explain what this button does. The only reason to ever use this button is if you want the achievement for completing the encyclopedia of the common man, or if you want to get a double kill with a bow. But in general, if you suck at combat, using this button allows you to increase the range at which you fire, throw tools.

'LB': Summon minion. Hold for the Ability wheel. Press 'X' from the ability wheel for the 'World Domination' side game. Honestly, I have always thought having teammates was pointless so I rarely use this button. The 'World Domination' minigame is also equally useless. However, the increased functionality of the 'LB' is a serious improvement to the system developed in ACB. Now, you no longer need to visit pigeon coups to assign missions to your assassin's. Your assassins can perform many different abilities aside from the basic 'assassinate' order. They can start a riot. You can issue a gun kill. You can have them defend a specific area. You can have them follow you, and they will automatically attack enemies that gain suspicion. And ultimately, you can have them

'LS': Move. Click for Eagle Vision.

Still useless like ever.

'RT': Freerun & High profile

Differentiate between moving fast so slow with this button. While hold this 'RT' Conner will surmount objects in his path, as well as slide underneath other objects. While holding this you also access high profile mode. High profile actions annoy guards in general. High profile murder is loud and noticeable and is susceptible to being noticed by the local guard. All actions of Conner's high profile mode are incredibly brutal. They looks fantastic, when not performed on enemies when you aren't upon a slope (such as a hill, staircase, or roof), because otherwise, the animations look incredibly pathetic. I know this is a hard programming issue to handle in open world games, but when the game's ground is literally built out of slopes, the issue should at least be mildly addressed. The player, only while playing as Conner, is newly capable of Freerunning in the trees. Freerunning in the trees looks extravagant and is quite impressive when noticing the composition (graphics/details) of the area you are exploring. The freerunning system is fun, but unfortunately, it has dramatic flaws. You will consistently find yourself jumping to objects you had no intention of touching at all. You will consistently corner camp on doors your are trying to open. And worst of all, you will suicide on more than one unfortunate occasion.

'RB': Hold for the weapons wheel

Hasn't changed much. The wheel is much less of a wheel, wow it is a left slider and a right slider. The left slider contains primary weapons while the other contains tools. The biggest complaint is access to this menu. It simply takes way too long to load. The loading times of this game are complete garbage. Each and every load you experience seems more and more time consuming than the last.

'RS': Camera. Click to center.

Loading
This game has near the worst loading times of any game on-console, ever. It simply takes way too long to load. The loading times of this game are complete garbage. Each and every load you experience seems more and more time consuming than the last.

Hunting

Hunting is the same as assassinating. There are numerous animals to hunt, and all actually inhabit the actual frontier the in-game area represents. There are beavers, hare, elk, wolves, raccoons, cougars, deer, bobcats, bears, and foxes and all animal models look good. All tools that can assassinate an enemy can be used to hunt an animal however only the primary weapon that can be used is the hidden blade. All tools in general can be used on animals. If you throw a smoke pellet at a bear it will in fact get very angry with you. All predators and the male elk, excluding foxes, can "attack" you. This initiates a quick response minigame conflict. Respond wrong and no penalty, but respond late, and you may just wind up dead. This minigame is unentertaining and extremely troublesome. It makes hunting predators an extreme chore. Hunting animals in general, feels like an unnecessary piece of them game tacked on just to occupy more disc space. Hunting heavily results in no reward other than some spare change and is required to attain an achievement. I recommend avoiding all hunting, beside that within the campaign, if you plan on renting or borrowing this game.

Snares must be set, similar to how tripwire bombs must be laid out in ACR. Snares automatically kill all small animals that touch them and may kill up to as many animals as you allow them two. I once caught 7 hares in one snare.

Combat

Combat has been raped entirely. Although the animations may be brutal and fun to watch, the combat has lost all substance built through prior installments. The combat can be relatively fun when you aren't frustrated, which will be rarely if ever you get good enough to even understand the gimmicks of combat.

The combat system has come a long way since its original iteration in...well duh Assassin's Creed 1. The combat system is relatively refined, it's good, but it's definitely not perfect. As a matter of fact, it is far as hell away from perfect. Even when wielded by a guy who can hit a 300+ combo on Arkham City, he still manages to make a screw up or twenty.

I will discuss and critique "combat-in-general", as well as discuss how "combat has changed" in various ways in comparison to previous installments to the franchise. I'l will also give my opinion of what I think about these "changes" either suck or are actual improvements to the game

In 'combat mode', typically referred to in-game as "open-conflict", you have four buttons to aid you in attaining resolution

'A': Break Defense- swing at your opponent with a damageless maneuver which may lower his guard.

'B': Block- parry an enemy attack

'X': Strike- swing at your opponent with your primary weapon

'Y': Tool- attack your opponent with a tool

'B' stands for block in this game. With the 'B' button you can parry an enemies attack. You can parry with any weapon, or even unarmed. You cannot however parry every kind of attack. This game has built a combat system much similar to Batman Arkham City except in every aspect is mediocre in comparison. During the second mission of the game the block function is relatively explained but it is definitely not thoroughly, so may I remedy this problem.

Holding 'B' puts your character into a defensive stance, preventing all standard enemy attacks from hitting. This is the most useless invention of the game. Never, literally never, will you have to recall this function to utilize in a difficult fight. This, however, is not entirely useless. It can give beginners extra time to think on the wire before pressing the wrong button and getting punished for it. The tutorial for this stance is explained for how long?...like all of 5 seconds?

The important function of be 'B' is to parry a standard attacks. After parrying an attack successfully, you may "respond" within the threshold of 3 seconds.

What is a response?

To put it simply, it is maneuver that "can" be taken by the player after producing a 'block'. After achieving a block, the right wing buttons will change function so that you may respond in one of four ways:

'A': Disarm

'B': Throw

'X': Counter Kill

'Y': Tool Counter Kill

Each function has its own particular uses in battle, and against specific enemy types some are much more useful than others.

There are four enemy types:

'Jager's- Well-trained commanders signified by ridiculous headdresses. The most overpowered and annoying enemy type of the game.

'Grenadier's- Over-sized monsters of men. If their size, or the giant axe in their hands, doesn't give them away, I don't know what will. Maybe the retarded hats they wear? These guys will give you a run for your money if you don't know what you're doing.

'Light soldiers'- Quick units that are the attack first, typically, when in composed groups. They're troublesome but manageable.

'Regulars'- Your standard run-of-the-mill lobster back soldier.
Now this is we jump into the nitty gritty of combat. Combat sucks. It looks good, but combat in this game, to put it simply, is frustrating.

Combat, otherwise known as open-conflict can be initiated via being identified while notorious, by murdering/stealing (guards, people, or animals) within the presence of guards, or by being in an off-limit area. Being trouble some to guards while incognito will

Jagers 'reject' all attacks when armed. This means you must disarm them.

Warning, the following is a tirade about the biggest issue in the game.

The combat has one main integral problem. I call it "Body bagging".In combat against enemy groups, a few will try and take advantage of the situation while you fighting by backing away from the "mob" (my term for the hoard of enemies surrounding the player, in most cases 'you'). Enemies back away from the 'mob' for one reason, and one reason only: to shoot at you. In small fights 'body bagging' doesn't typically present itself as an issue. But the matter of fact is that the majority of fights you will face during your experience in AC3 will be 1 man versus at least 8.

So to combat getting shot by enemies the creators of the game invented a "body bagging" system. Think of it like Gears of War, you grab an enemy and use them to block bullets. The reason why body bagging is an issue is because of 'shared button functionality'. Now let me explain myself if you have never read this term before. In AC3 the 'A' button (or X button, PS3) will make Conner jump while freerunning. In 'combat mode', the A button instead functions as a 'break defense' maneuver, allowing you to thereafter attack your opponent, as opposed to getting blocked by your adversary.

Now the source of the 'body bagging' issue comes from the final functionality of the 'A' button, which is, you guessed it, 'body bagging'. At specific moments during 'combat mode' the 'A' button will function as your 'body bag' button, you do not get to choose when these moments come. I repeat, the 'A' button functions as your 'body bag' button automatically. The game decides when it wants to 'body bag' or when it wants to 'break defense'.

Now I propose a question for you. What if the game 'body bags' for you when it shouldn't? Or what if the game 'breaks defense' when you're actually trying to 'body bag' an opponent instead? Well this here is the prime issue. The game 'body bag' system is in fact "retarded", the body bag system will make mistakes at times when the player is not. And it gets worse, there are enemy types who 'reject' the 'break defense' maneuver and instead hit you in the face, dealing plenty of damage to.

Now let me give you a scenario:

Suppose you are fighting a Jäger and 7 Soldiers. 5 of these soldiers break away from the 'mob' and form a firing line. Now the game gives you the cue to 'body bag' an enemy by telling you "look player, there are 5 guys who are gonna shoot the fuck out of you right now so you better do something" by emphasizing them with yellow markers over their heads. Now, you attempt to 'body bag' the Jäger. There are two possible outcomes to this situation. There is the 'Yay, success!' outcome or the 'God Fucking Dammit!' outcome. 4 out of five times you'll get the latter.

So what happens in the 'god fucking dammit outcome'? Well first of all, the game misinterprets your 'A' button press and tries to 'break defense' the Jäger. Well, problem number 1: Jäger' s reject 'break defense' maneuvers. So your break defense gets rejected: you get punched in the face and take a decent amount of damage. But wait, there's more. Problem number 2: You don't have a 'body bag' you unlucky bastard. So you remember that squad of men who were forming a firing line in the foreground about thirty seconds ago? Yes, they have finally gotten their shit together. Oh look! Now they're firing! And guess who's open for attack? You are, yay! You take a hail of five bullets. You die and the game reloads. Expect a 5 minute loading screen.